Kiss On Wood

In an intriguing, surprisingly short program, violist Rachel Yonan and pianist Kwan Yi mix three intentionally sparse "modern" pieces by Arvo Pärt and Sir James MacMillan with Robert Schumann's four far more effusive Märchenbilder (fairy tales). The contrasts are many, and the rewards are considerable.

Those rewards are enhanced by Daniel Shores's commitment to recording in DXD. Images are realistically large, the sound full, detailed, and free of digital edge. Shores's kinship with the DXD team of engineer Jim Anderson and producer Ulrike Schwartz is reflected in Schwartz's involvement as producer and Anderson's hand in supplying booklet photographs.

The major draw is the first recording of MacMillan's seven-minute Kiss on Wood, arranged for viola and piano by Yonan. Described by MacMillan as "a short, static and serene meditation," its inspiration lies in a Latin phrase that on Good Friday invites church attendees to come forward and kiss the wood on Christ's cross in adoration. The slow, still beauty of the piece is marked by sighing, groaning, and some of the same stillness that makes Pärt's Fratres and Spielel im Spiegel so magical and riveting. I sat transfixed by the increasingly soft piano chords at the end, whose subtle transformations are captured to perfection by DXD.

Occasionally, Yonan's flow is interrupted by slight unsteadiness. In Spiegel im Spiegel, her decision to alternate between straight tone and moderate vibrato seems capricious. Most striking, her time travel (with Kwan) to Schumann's era does not find them plumbing the romantic depths. In works as short as the Märchenbilder, changes in tempo and dynamics are essential. To compare this duo's final melancholic movement with those from other artists is to discover what more could have been said.